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Round up of Arsenal players at the World Cup so far…

With a week of the World Cup now completed, it’s fair to say that Arsenal’s representatives at the tournament have endured mixed fortunes to date.

Mohamed Eleny already knows he is heading home after Egypt lost their opening two games, while Alex Iwobi and Joel Campbell were unable to prevent Nigeria and Costa Rica being defeated in their respective opening matches.

Nacho Monreal and Danny Welbeck are yet to see any game time for Spain and England, but Arsenal’s other quartet of players in Russia all started the country’s first group matches.

Read on as we assess how the foursome fared in those games.

Granit Xhaka & Stephan Lichtsteiner – Switzerland

Xhaka and Lichtsteiner both produced steady performances as Switzerland held Brazil to a surprise 1-1 draw in Group E.

Dubbed as one of the World Cup’s bad boys after being sent off eight times since the last tournament, Xhaka overcame a shaky start to help the Swiss grab an unexpected point against the Samba Kings.

Lichtsteiner got forward well down the right flank with some excellent interplay with Xerdan Shaqiri, opening up plenty of spaces for crosses. However, Marcelo’s defending was a stubborn resistance that Lichsteiner struggled to break down.

Xhaka and Lichtsteiner face Serbia and Costa Rica in their next two games, leaving the duo with a great chance to reach the last 16.

Mesut Ozil – Germany

There was a lot of talk ahead of the tournament that Ozil was a different proposition in a Germany shirt, but there was little evidence of that against Mexico.

Germany still have to play Sweden and South Korea in Group F and there is no guarantee that the reigning World Cup champions will progress to the knockout stage.

David Ospina – Colombia

There were less than three minutes on the clock when Colombia’s Carlos Sanchez was shown a straight red card for a deliberate handball inside the penalty area against Japan.

It was the second-fastest sending off in World Cup history – Jose Alberto Batista’s dismissal for Uruguay against Scotland in 1986 after 54 seconds was the quickest – and Shinji Kagawa didn’t miss the chance to put Japan ahead from the spot.

Colombia equalised before the break, but despite Ospina producing a couple of excellent saves in the second half they were eventually beaten 2-1.

However, if they can keep eleven men on the pitch and show the same spirit against Poland and Senegal in their next two games, Colombia can still get out of Group H.

Arsenal should just sign Mahrez and a final gift to us. All this 50-70million budget is garbage, 60million could give us Mahrez who is premier league tested.
If we could do this we will surely have a title push. Anyone agree?

aren’t you all ashamed calling Mesut Ozil our best player ? someone that turns up whenever he wants. you lots should watch Christian Eriksen. that’s how a modern day premier league number 10 should play . Ozil is so overrated . I know who I would choose between Ozil and these other premier league number 10s ( Eriksen ,silva and even Fabregas )

To be quite honest apart from scoring the goal, Eriksen was underwelming against Australia. He went missing and badly ran out of legs in the second half.
Aaron Mooy of Huddersfield Town and Australia has performed extremely well both here and in the EPL, but appears to fly under the radar.

Isco please, we have Raul with his contact book and now have a Spanish manager. We should try and go quietly for Isco and bid properly like when we got Ozil. If we are thinking about making steps forward, then filling weak spots is not enough, we need to make strong areas stronger if we can. We are not very strong in midfield but there is slight chance of us getting better (more renowned) than Isco anytime soon. Aubameyang was just such a signing, CM could do with one, as well as CB. I know it’s an uphill battle but maybe he’d like to taste stardom and a new challenge rather than being a very good player among a team full of good to great players.

Even Liv haven’t been able to pull off the big hitter type signings, we were in a position to do one now and then because of our CL status. Spu can’t do them either. We should keep trying before we become synonymous with EUFA football.

Phil u must understand that Ozil has been our best player on paper, his earnings and history not on the pitch. sell him I say. Ramsey on the other hand is attempting to give us the Sanchez treatment by not signing so y keep him? tell me pls

It will be interesting to see how Emery addresses
the Ramsey/Ozil dynamic when the German
returns to the Emirates following the WC. I
personally feel the mercurial German, although
unplayable when in the mood simply wont fit
the aggressive, pressing style that the Spaniard
seems destined to employ. Mezut simply cant
play the role of the passenger anymore and
with Miki and Ramsey fully capable of shining
in that spot I could see the German possibly
being moved on @ a considerable loss. Perhaps
a loan to a Turkish side would make some
sense. I personally dont rate Ramsey, but his
form at the Euros in 16 demonstrated
that he is capable of delivering quality
performances in a more advanced, attacking
role. He doesnt possess the skill set of a B2B midfielder and should NEVER feature in that
role. If he pulls a Sanchez and demands silly
money, Id sell him off in a NYM.

To many(and I respect there opinions) selling off
both players would be absolute madness but I
honestly believe that Arsenal could conceivably
have a better, more balanced midfield if 1 or
both players were moved on this summer.

Someone, that was how u encouraged us not to sell Sanchez until he almost left for free, now Ramsey again y not cash in on him if he’s a contract rebel? As for Ozil, he should better start turning up with MOtM performances otherwise I’d sell him and bring in someone with passion for arsenal…

How much is Ozil really collecting on weekly bases. I’m tired of hearing people using that a point of reference each he is the topic of discussion. I for one don’t believe he is on 350k. I have read on the net he is on 350k, 300k, 250k and recently on le grove on 210k. Secondly, i want to know what fans think on Xhaka performance in world cup so far.